DEADLY…The deadly Kudat Kalampunian beach at Tg Simpang Mengayau.
By : DAP MEDIA
THE SAD case of a 18 years old Korean student drowned in the Kudat Kalampunian beach, Tg Simpang Mengayau arose public attention concerning the government and its authorities being not able to provide adequate facilities on the life saving and sage guard the safety of our valued tourists who came from far to visit Sabah.
This is already the ninth case of drowning in Kudat so far, recalled by the Sabah DAP Kudat chief Alexander Anthony Wong. He felt that the Korean student could be saved if there is lifeguard on the beach watch and life boat on standby. Immediate life saving operation could bring the boy to safety and not being drowned.
In Kalampunian beach at Tg. Simpang Mengayau, we cannot find any life guard and life boats station on the beach here. The tourists who come to swim or surfing in the sea here is classified as ‘take your own risk’!
How can we treat our valued visitors like this? The Korean boy was with 32 other Korean tourists who visited the beautiful Simpang Mengayau beach not far from the famous ‘Tip of Borneo’ tourism spot.
Alex Wong also mentioned that the police out post did not have life saving facilities and the boat they have is not sure whether it is sea worthy. They are the only person available on site to save the people who are in trouble.
The Fire and rescue service department and other rescue units have to be called in case of emergencies. They are usually far from reach, and always arrived on site late.
If the government is serious in promoting tourism in this beach, they should upgrade the facilities and allocated more funds and personnel to ensure the safety of the tourists is guarded upon. We cannot have any more mishap happening here in the future, or else our tourists will be frightened away.
Alex also suggested that the authorities should set warning markers in the sea to warn the swimmers about the strong under water current which is some way near the beach front.
The big wave areas should be identified and highlighted on a notice board erected on the beach indicating the height of the waves and the specific location where the surfers can be hit hard and lost in the sea.
Furthermore, there should be a floating barricade to cordon off the swimmers from drifting far into deep wavy sea. A safe swimming zone must be established for easy monitoring of the swimmers location and help life saving operation.
At least there should be lifeguard tower to be built on the beach with lifeguards on standby to keep a close beach watch over the swimmers.
We wonder whether the government can do this improvement or not, at the meanwhile the tourist shall continue to take their risk on using our beaches here in Simpang Memgayau, Kudat and other beaches in Sabah too.
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